WASHINGTON (AFP) — Time Warner Cable cancelled a controversial test of "consumption based billing" under which high-speed Internet users were being charged for the amount of bandwidth they used.
"It is clear from the public response over the last two weeks that there is a great deal of misunderstanding about our plans to roll out additional tests on consumption based billing," chief executive Glenn Britt said in a statement.
"As a result, we will not proceed with implementation of additional tests until further consultation with our customers and other interested parties, ensuring that community needs are being met," he said.
"While we continue to believe that consumption based billing may be the best pricing plan for consumers, we want to do everything we can to inform our customers of our plans and have the benefit of their views as part of our testing process," Britt said.
Time Warner Cable, the second-largest cable television operator in the country, conducted the initial test of consumption based billing with subscribers in one US city and had plans to extend it to additional cities.
The test of billing subscribers for actual broadband usage by the gigabyte instead of charging a flat monthly fee met with protests from members of the public and the US Congress, including New York Senator Charles Schumer.
In the statement, Time Warner Cable said it is working to make "measurement tools available as quickly as possible."
"These tools will help customers understand how much bandwidth they consume and aid in the dialog going forward," it said.
"We look forward to continuing to work with Senator Schumer, our customers and all of the other interested parties as the process moves forward," Britt said.
US media and entertainment giant Time Warner spun off Time Warner Cable earlier this year.
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